Kent City — Not many elementary students can take pride in their school’s salad bar, but fifth-grader Genesis Beiter does.
Genesis and her classmates at Kent City Elementary School just wrapped up a year of tasty lunches with more fresh fruit and vegetable options — and it’s all thanks to the KCE student council, of which Genesis is a member.
The school’s student council launched just last school year, but the student representatives hit the ground running with ideas. Notably, they asked for a meeting with district food service staff to suggest some changes to lunch service, including different sauces and the addition of a salad bar.
To their surprise, the adults not only listened but they took the suggestions seriously.
“If the students offer suggestions, if we can do it, we’ll do it, as long as it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility or expenses,” said Food Service Director Beth Ohman. “We’ll always listen. They pushed us, and that’s pretty cool.”
And the KCE kitchen staff agree: The salad bar has been a good change.
“They’re good kids that are not shy about their opinions, and they like having more options,” said head cook Katie Mitchell. “We were afraid that (the salad bar) would get pretty messy, but I haven’t heard of that being the case. The kids like having the freedom to take maybe a bigger scoop of pears or carrots, and it’s been really good.”
‘It makes me feel like I’m seen, because (adults) actually listen to us and take our ideas and can add things to make the school better.’
— fifth-grader Genesis Beiter
‘Way better options’
Prior to this year, Mitchell explained, fruits and vegetables were served on the food line along with hot items. There was one fruit and one veggie option, with kitchen staff scooping the item onto a student’s tray. There were also more prepackaged fruits and vegetables, she said.
With the addition of the salad bar this year, students can now serve themselves, choosing from two fruit and two vegetable options each day — some prepackaged, but many fresh items. In addition, a hot vegetable option is still available on the hot food line.
Fifth-grader Walter Kaminski, a self-described big fan of oranges, has been thrilled with the changes.
“It makes me happy because there’s, like, way better options, with more food that you want to eat,” Walter said. “Like before, if they had apples, you had to get them, because there was no oranges, but now they have oranges a lot too. And if you don’t really like something you can grab a different thing. Like, if you don’t really feel like broccoli, but you have to get a vegetable, then I can get carrots.”
As she worked to implement the salad bar and other items they requested, Mitchell said she also enjoyed the opportunity to teach the student council about the national and state nutrition standards that govern school meals.
“They were surprised to hear how we’re regulated by the government — that we have to look at the calories and the sodium and everything, or that we have to figure out how to add different condiments without skewing our numbers,” she said. “We had very open conversations with them. It was a lot of fun for me to hear their feedback, and they were really receptive and they had great questions.”
Adults Will Listen
Genesis said “it feels pretty good” to watch students enjoy the salad bar at lunch, knowing that she played a small role in making it happen.
“It makes me feel like I’m seen, because (adults) actually listen to us and take our ideas and can add things to make the school better,” she said.
That’s exactly what adviser and fifth-grade teacher Allison Budnik had hoped would happen with the student council, which is open to fourth- and fifth-graders through an application process.
“I think seeing student work make a difference has proved to a lot of kids that the adults here will listen to them when they have good ideas,” said Budnik. “It doesn’t need to be something grand, or a giant yearlong project; it can just be something simple that their peers end up appreciating.
“And this process also helped them have a better understanding of what the adult roles are in our school, and all of the behind-the-scenes work that we take for granted.”
With the salad bar firmly established, Budnik said this year’s student council tackled some other big topics, such as boosting participation in National Reading Month activities and leading the charge on recycling initiatives. They also pushed for a new water bottle filler for KCE, which Principal Julie Scott approved to be installed prior to next school year.
Walter said the student council has been a “really great” addition to his time at Kent City Elementary.
“There’s all this stuff that they’re trying to do for us and it makes me happy that you can ask them about things,” he said. “Like, if you have a student council person in your classroom, you can ask them if they could work on something that’s helpful. Before, you couldn’t ask anyone about, like, getting new stuff or changing stuff. But now you can.”
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